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Printer question

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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How do you print something at a specific size?

Example: I take a picture of a book jacket. No problem.

But how do I print the picture so the actual image is the same size as the original?

Probably something simple I'm overlooking.

I can tell the printing app to print on 8.5 x 11 paper (or whatever), but how do I tell the printing app to print the 5 x 7" (or whatever) book jacket image so that it comes out 5 x 7" on the printed page? I can use an editor to drag the image edges back and forth to make it bigger or smaller, but that's just guesswork.

How do I say "Attention! make that book jacket image come out of the printer at 5 x 7".

Inquiring minds want to know!
Thanks.
Tom
 
There might be an option "print to fit" or "scale" in your printer properties. If I was to guess, this is an HP printer?
 
Thanks Greg. There's usually a "print to fit" option, but that's just to get the image to fit the paper. I've never seen that option to actually re-size an image to a specific dimension. I've seen the print to fit option on many printing apps, not printer specific.

Thanks.
Tom
 
My bad, I saw take picture and thought scan. In your editor, can you crop the photo down 'til it just has the book cover in it? Then you should be able to adjust the image size and print a 1 to 1 ratio. Each editor is different on where you resize. Gimp it's under Image>print size. Photoshop has it under Adjust>Image size.
 
Thanks Greg. I can "resize" in GIMP, but for some reason it never prints to the desired size.

Even when I use the pointer and watch the measurement grid at the top and side to verify the size, then save the file, I can't do the "print 1 to 1 ratio" thing. The printing app always re-sizes it anyway.

I think it's an issue with the printer driver meshing with the print output of the graphics app.

Tom
 
Hmmm. I'm using KDE, can't remember what desktop you have. Uder System Settings>Hardware>Printer Configuration>Local Printer, there is a tab for printer options. There you'll see Shrink Page if Necessary. Try the crop option there.
 
Not sure if this is what you mean, but on my iMac, regardless of which if three printers I select, I can choose to "scale" an image or document to a percentage of full size. (A little math and you can figure how much to scale to fit a specific size paper, for example.

printing.jpg
 
If I need a very specific size I just re-size the image in Photoshop, there is an option to re-size by inches instead of by pixels, there is an option to choose... Then when you print it (by actual size of image) it should print fine...
 
If the size of the image you want to rint is really 5 x 7, you need to change the setting in Page Layout from "Fit to Page' to "None". If None is not an option for your printer, you'll have to experiment with the option available to find the one that doesn't re-size.
 
Done! Use grid to size image on the canvas. Save. Set printer prefs to "do not resize". Print. Actually printed on the page at exactly the dimensions indicated on the grid.

Thanks all!

If anyone would like to advise me on a similar scanning/sizing/printing project, please let me know. We could proceed via PM.

Thanks.
Tom
 
Greg - PM sent!
 
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